Fossil fuel days are over, Turner informs Houston

When an oil company executive comments on energy trends, television people discount the observations on the basis of vested interest.

A television executive, however, lugs around no such baggage.

So when CNN founder Ted Turner shows up in Houston to opine about energy and the environment, people should take note. Right?

"The days of fossil fuels as a fuel are over," Turner told the Houston World Affairs Council Feb. 7 while voicing fear about global warming. "It's just a matter of how soon everybody recognizes it. We only have one atmosphere."

Only one atmosphere! Who could have known?

But there it was, straight from a billionaire with insight unencumbered by connection with anything as nasty as oil and gas. He must be right.

In response to Turner's revelation about the death of fossil fuels, however, Houston didn't act eager to abandon its role as an oil and gas center.

A quick check indicated that rigs were still drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and around Texas. Refineries stayed busy along the coast. Tankers plied the Ship Channel pretty much as usual.

It must reflect failure by the witless to recognize what Turnerhe's a television guy, after allfinds obvious: fossil fuels, 85% of the world's energy supplykaput!